


Counter Intelligence

by miscellea



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-04
Updated: 2012-06-04
Packaged: 2017-11-06 19:44:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/422518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miscellea/pseuds/miscellea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before you reveal dirt on someone, it is advisable to make sure they don't have something worse on you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Counter Intelligence

**Author's Note:**

> Supplemental image can be found here:

It was a surprisingly small party by Stark Standards ™; only the team plus their closest civilian friends minus Fury… and about a dozen professional escorts to keep things lively. Fortunately the escorts were only there for the first half of the evening to help break the ice for a group of very disparate people with very little in common beyond a very specific skill set. Even if they had been scheduled to stay longer, Natasha expected that they probably would have scattered around about the time Thor arrived in his own personal maelstrom of wind and lightening.

Up until that point, Bruce had been doing the wallflower act or having very complex debates with Tony about particle physics. Thor, however, had Ideas about proper feasting and babysitting a virgin cocktail in the corner was not one of them. Fortunately Thor was as kind and patient as he was enthusiastic so, after a while, even Bruce Banner was able to cut loose and have a little fun.

Even stranger was the fact that Tony and Clint seemed to have hit it off, which is impressive considering that Hawkeye’s conversation tended to limit itself to ‘yes’, ‘no’, and witty battle repartee. Mind you, it took more than a few tumblers of a very nice scotch to get him to that point where he was willing to take the reins off his mouth, so maybe it was the conversational equivalent of beer goggles. Either way, he and Tony had been hunched over something with their backs turned to the rest of the room.

Natasha’s idea of a party tended to involve more black ties and a string quartet, but even she was enjoying herself; relaxing in the middle of the crowd with a very dry martini and with _out_ having to engage unless she actually wanted to. That was until Tony wandered over and crouched on the ottoman in front of her to stare at her face with –if not drunken then _definitely_ buzzed- intensity.

It ceased to be amusing after the first few minutes and finally she broke several of the cardinal rules for Stark Wrangling ™ and addressed him with a terse, “ _What_?”

“Nope, I still can’t tell.” He muttered under his breath. “So, is it the black hair that’s natural or the red? Between the eyebrow pencil and the mascara, I can’t tell, but may I just say? You can certainly pull off the bouffant look better than anyone I have ever seen.”

_Ah_. So that’s what they’d been snickering over in their corner. Clint had reached the point of showing off the pictures in his wallet. Impressive. Usually it took a lot more alcohol to get him far enough along to forget that Natasha had ammunition of her own.

She flipped open her phone and tabbed through the photo gallery until she got to the one she wanted and tilted it for Tony to see. He promptly snorted vodka tonic up his nose. Clint looked up as Tony collapsed in raucous laughter.

That brought Thor and Bruce over, curiosity being a fairly common Achilles heel. They too got a look at what was on Natasha’s phone. Bruce laughed. Thor just cocked his head and commented, “I would not have chosen violet as your color, my friend. However, the mask I like. Do you still have it?”

Clint looked briefly like he’d bitten into a lemon, but shrugged it off and crossed over to the sofa that Natasha had been lounging on. She sat up to allow him to sit next to her and then leaned back against his side. He tossed an arm on the back of the sofa behind her (not precisely around her shoulders, but she was content to allow him to take baby steps). Still, he was relaxed enough to lean his cheek on top of her head.

“I should have known that I hadn’t gotten every copy of that picture.” He muttered _sotto voce_ and she smiled.

“Yes.” She replied, making a mental note to thank Tony should he actually prove to remember any of that particular evening. “You should have.”

 


End file.
